Zainab Magdy was born in Giza, Egypt, and is
doing an MA in Performance Theory at Cairo University where she is a teaching assistant. She
has been part of writing and storytelling workshops with a gender sensitive
perspective since 2009. She has been acting in theatre since 2007 and has
recently taken on playwriting and is now part of a new writing and performance
project: "The Odd Ducks". Follow her on twitter@ZainabMagdy.

The last known message from the Egyptian activist Zainab Mahdy reads, " It's like we're digging in water...There is no
justice…I am aware of that…there is no victory coming…we are just lying to
ourselves so that we can live."

Last month a young woman was mob attacked on Cairo University campus.
Socially and culturally constructed circles that control our lives seem to be
tightening at a time when individuals are trying their hardest to crack them
open. Zainab Magdy explores whether women will ever find a space that is their own.

Images of women and the brutal violence against them, whether committed by
the Army, Police, Muslim Brotherhood or thugs, are commodities that sell a certain shade
of patriarchy to the people, says Zainab Magdy.

Egypt's new First Lady is covered, a
first in the history of this country. Just as her Muslim Brotherhood husband
has raised more than a few worries on the secularity of the state; the way his
wife dresses is worrying many over the "image" of Egyptian women